National award for short film on Dakshina Kannada’s green village

National award for short film on Dakshina Kannada’s green village Laila Gold captures best practices of a rural community in converting waste to wealth, A short film capturing the best practices of a rural community in converting waste to wealth in the remote village of Laila in Belthangady taluk of Dakshina Kannada, has won a government of India award. The 180-second film, Laila Gold, depicting

the process of producing organic waste and its marketing was adjudged the best from among 510 entries received by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj.

Produced and directed by the city-based freelance journalist and author Niranjan Vanalli, the film showcases the Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat’s success in promoting the source segregation of waste, followed by composting. The resulting manure is extremely popular and demand far exceeds supply, Prof. Vanalli said. The revenue from the compost manure has helped make the village more self-sufficient.

Prof. Vanalli, Registrar of the Karnataka State Gangubai Hangal University of Music and Performing Arts, told The Hindu that three days of shooting went into producing the three-minute film.

“I learnt of the rural community’s initiative in recycling the waste, and so visited the village and observed the process. The original film, which was eight minutes long, was edited down without sacrificing details to meet the required format and duration of three minutes,” he added.

“The waste generated in each household is collected and buried in pits, and it gets converted into compost in about 50 days. It is sold under the name ‘Laila Gold’,” explained Prof. Vanalli, who received the prize in New Delhi on Wednesday.

Prof. Vanalli’s other film, Kaanmane — nurturing nature, about the environmental resource centre set up by the local village forest committee at Sirsi under the guidance of environmentalist Shivanand Kalve, was screened at the National Science Film earlier this year.